Olgebay Good Zoo - Exterior Habitats

I grant you this, the map is not current.  The train on the
tracks were taken down a couple of years ago in favor of a
gas powered, rubber tire version. 

 Once you leave the back side of the entrance building you have a choice.  Go left or go right.  It doesn't matter.  It's all just an irregular loop.  The building sits on high ground.  You're going to walk up and down and then finally up mostly no matter which direction you choose.

The habitats are not generally abutted to one another.  There will be times when you walk a little ways to get to the next one.  And there will be places where they seem to be more clustered.  With such a simple arrangement, you'd think it would be difficult to miss anything; however, after the fact I looked at the map and was surprised to see both Grevy's Zebras and Ostriches on the thing and never saw either OR a habitat where either might have been...  Was I obtuse, or is the information on the website out of date?  It feels like a coin toss to me.

The animals are loosely ordered by region, and when you choose to go right as we did, you encounter African animals first.  On this morning we also met two beautiful and sweet Mediterranean Miniature Donkeys on their way in the company of two keepers to the paddock on the other side of the loop.  Africa was followed by Australia, and then it felt less cohesive.  While habitats are secure and well appointed, there is far less artifice at this zoo, and what there is seems less important.  It's a question I would sincerely put to the administration of the zoo regarding how to focus their future growth.

Speaking of which, one of the first things you see, even before the animal welfare clinic, is a sign proclaiming to future arrival of African Lions.  They next dedicated project of the zoo is to construct a new African Lion habitat.  This will clearly eclipse all of the existing habitats in terms of design and iconic status.  There are still a handful of species that seem to define the essence of a "real" zoo.  Elephants, Rhinoceros, Giraffe, Gorilla, Tigers, and; yes, LIONS.  

What we saw on our journey around the outside loop...

RED RIVER HOGS

Potamochoerus porcus

CHEETAH

Acinonyx jubatus

The climb to the Australian animals and Lemurs

The Kangaroo and Wallaby Walk

RED KANGAROO

Osphranter rufus

RED-NECKED WALLABY

Notamacropus rufogriseus

WHITE-AND-BLACK RUFFED LEMUR

Varecia veriegata

This little Blue Barn is home to an African Spurred Tortoise

Upon seeing us, he wanted to come over and say, "Hello!"

AFRICAN SPURRED TORTOISE

Centrochelys sulcata

MANED WOLF

Chrysocyon brachyurus

If you look closely, perhaps squint or enlarge the image, you might be able to see this South American canine napping like most of the other Good animals.

A collection of buildings anchored by this traditional Red Barn awaited us at the far end of the pathway.  There were a cluster of habitats, Red Wolves, Snow Leopards, and Chinese Goral all had lovely spaces, and all were no en casa on this hot and humid summer day.

MEDITERRANEAN MINIATURE DONKEY

Equus asinus asinus

DOMESTIC FERRET

Mustela putorius furo

Oglebay Good Zoo - Inside Habitats

 It is safe to say that no two Zoos are alike.  But of all of the zoos I've visited, I would say that the Oglebay Good Zoo in Wheeling, West Virginia is perhaps the most interesting one yet.  Oglebay [pronounced O'-gul-bee, NOT O'-gul-bay] is not just a zoo, though it is still a zoo.  It sits in a publicly held, privately developed Park with 4 golf courses, a luxury hotel and wonderful restaurant, a lake with fishing and kayaking, cabins to rent, a public garden, two museums, an adventure park, hiking and biking trails, multiple picnic areas,  and a zoo.  It is collectively one of if not THE gem of Wheeling.  As part of the whole complex, the zoo takes up a meager 30 acres of the total 1,650.  

As zoo's go, the Oglebay zoo is a modern zoo with a unique and poignant origin story.  In 1971 a young boy of seven named Philip Mayer Good died and his family pledged a significant sum to have a new zoo created within the Oglebay Park complex in his memory.  In conjunction with this event, the nascent organization called the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums which is 1966 was formed to become the professional branch affiliate of the National Recreation and Park Association was meeting to discuss its future.  The result?  The AAZAP became the AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) breaking away from the NRPA and located its Executive Offices at Oglebay Park, Wheeling, West Virginia, within the future home of the Oglebay Good Zoo.  The Zoo broke ground in 1972 and opened to the public in 1977.  Subsequently, the AZA offices were removed from a member institution site and are now located in Silver Spring, Maryland.

My visit to the zoo was curated by a dear friend.  We started out with a lavish breakfast at the Wilson Lodge.  I ordered the Avocado Toast.  The description sounded interesting, healthy and not heavy.  What I got could have fed a family of three!  For those who love excess, this is the place to have breakfast!

Once fortified we drove over to the zoo and arrived just as it was opening.  As an entity, there are basically two parts to the zoo.  One is comprised of the habitats that exist within and against the main entry building.  The other are the mostly exterior habitats that you encounter a long the irregularly circular pathway that extends from the back of the entry building out and through the woods until is returns back to the same.  The up and down of the pathway is a moderate impact exercising experience, and you have a moderate opportunity to see animals.  As I have followed the zoo over the years online, I have noticed a higher than average turn-over of animal species.  While the zoo demonstrates commitment to some of its animals and their SAFE/SSP programs like their cheetahs, others with less pressing concerns have come and gone.

Once you enter the main building you have a spacious lobby, and generous Gift Shop and an amazing set of stairs to take you down to the ground level on the back of the building.  This level is home to several habitats with a mix of smaller mammals, reptiles (including an albino American Alligator--purveyor of good luck for the simple price of staring at it...), amphibians, and a beautiful Scarlet Macaw.  Some of the interior habitats connect to exterior ones as well.

The very first habitat to greet you is hope to a little colony of Golden Lion Tamarins.

GOLDEN LION TAMARIN

Leontopithecus rosalia

BURMESE PYTHON

Python bivittatus

SCARLET MACAW

Ara macao

Oglebay Good Zoo is home to two species of Tamarin.  Tamarin are New World monkeys whose evolution and fate very much mirrors that of their Madagascarian Old World Lemur cousins.  Like Lemurs who evolved to inhabit very specific and relatively small spaces on the Island of Madagascar, Tamarins did the same in the southern coastal jungles of Brazil.  As a result, it doesn't take much to completely upset their delicate balance and threaten their existence as a species.  And though they are so much smaller of stature than Lemurs, just like Lemurs, they are so charismatic and quickly charm the heart of anyone who spends even a modicum of time with them.

The size of the colony at the Oglebay Good Zoo allows for one to observe more nuanced social intercourse between its members.

COTTON-TOP TAMARIN

Saguinus oedipus 

RED PANDA

Ailurus fulgens

The Good Zoo is also home to two Red Panda's; an older and younger female.

Akron Zoo: Wrapping the Visit Up

 As certain as I am that you've enjoyed your visit to the Akron Zoo with me, it's time to bring it to a close.  Okay, we're close to 30 minutes from closing and I have 4 areas yet to visit on a hot late afternoon.  The Wild Asia zone dumps you out at a plaza dubbed Wild Prairie.  It's home to a little interactive farm area with sheep and goats, a "Western Town" set up mostly as a playground for younger children, and there are a couple of species of owls.  Without a map, I follow what appears to be the main pathway and come up on the Lerner Family Zoo Gardens--lots of flowers...keep moving!

Rounding a bend in what is a sort of hairpin turn on the way to the top of the hill, I am greeted by signage indicating that I have arrived at the Pride of Africa area.  There are buildings with African art motifs, a couple of tricked out safari ready Land Rovers.  To my right are a couple of habitats that are empty of animals.  I learn later that I might have seen Speke's Gazelle if they had been out and about and or White Storks.

At the far end past a couple more little buildings is a habitat with lions.  The male is sleeping pancake flat into the cool grass in the shade up next to the entrance/exit to the interior holding space.  Two beautiful females are hanging out on a rock formation in the center of the habitat.  I learn from a volunteer docent that the zoo is actually home to 5 lions: two-males and three-females.  One couple constitute the "older" pride, and the three available today are the "younger" pride.  The two prides take turns sharing the public facing habitat and a smaller private habitat on the backside of the holding building.  These lions are 10-year-old Donovan the male, and 11-year-old sisters Msinga and Kataba.  

I was unable to make it to the Grizzly Ridge area which is located below the Pride of Africa between it and the Wild Prairie, but on a dedicated path that loops.  This was partly due to the fact that without a map, I wasn't sure how to get to it, but also I'd just overheard a mother consoling her daughter because none of the bears were out.  Descending toward the entrance/exit I did take a different pathway that took me past the zoo's flock of Chilean Flamingos.  A rather impressive flock with 18 to 20 birds, which is a number sufficient to encourage breading potentially.

In the end, for it's size, this littler zoo has a lot to offer.  I was very pleased with my visit.

The upper end of the series of building in the Pride of Africa area.  The African Lion habitat has a pair of large glass windows for optimal viewing in the far building straight ahead behind the guests.

AFRICAN LION

Panthera leo

The male of the younger Pride, Donovan.

CHILEAN FLAMINGO

Phoenicopterus chilensis

Akron Zoo: Wild Asia

 At this point I realized that I only about an hour left and I was just halfway up the hill with about half of the zoo left to see!  Holy Appalachian Hellbender, Batman!   Okay, do what you can do, and don't short change the things you can do.  Also, the areas that are left to explore have far fewer habitats.

With that moment of anxiety quelled, I headed into the Wild Asia section.  And unlike past zoos, the Amur Tigers were out.  They had two large and geographically challenging habitats in the sense of natural flora, rock formations and climbing opportunities.  I did not see the Red Panda, but the final habitat was mind-blowing from the perspective of its inhabitants--a family of White-cheeked Gibbons.  The concoction consisted of a multi-storied interior designed to look like a Thai lodge from the outside attached to a very specious exterior habitat that abutted the building and towered up the ridge line to give multiple viewing from various heights.  The abundance of space was apparently enough to the Gibbons' liking to encourage them to produce off-spring, and the arrival of a little one earlier this Spring.

SUMATRAN TIGER

Panthera tigris sumatrae

The White-cheeked Gibbon complex from the upper exterior observation deck.

The Architect's concept when it was being designed from a different angle.

WHITE-CHEEKED GIBBON

Nomascus leucogenys

The adult females, Parker.  Tucked in with her is her seven-day-old infant.